In the culinary wasteland of Nebraska, the Bohemian Cafe is well worth visiting, particularly as it is a short distance off of I-80. The Eastern European food is so old-fashioned that I suspect you would be hard pressed to find anything like it in the Czech Republic, a country that is in a rush to modernize and, well, lighten up. The keyword at the Bohemian, on the other hand, is HEAVY. Nothing green infringed on our plates. If it had, it would no doubt have been buried in thick gravy.

And yet the Bohemian has the virtue of authenticity, and the food, essentially a paean to starch, is pretty irresistable in a down-home, once-in-a-lifetime way. As others have noted, the dumplings and sauerkraut would seem to be the items of most interest here. I would rate the dumplings as "interesting" but the sauerkraut as delicious. A little of the extraordinarily dense dumplings goes a long way, but the servings are huge. The sauerkraut, on the other hand, has an astringency that your meal at the Bohemian sorely requires and more of it would be more.

The bottom line: we passed on dessert. We couldn't resist the sauerbraten and duck and dumplings and sauerkraut, but it really filled us up, more than would be comfortable if it weren't a rare indulgence.

"The Czech goulash features tender chunks of meat in a delicious, dark sauce."
Cliff Strutz

"The plum dumplings are baseball-sized and come four to an order. Although listed as an entree, this is a very sweet dish and should be treated as a dessert. Expect a full 30-minute wait for the kitchen to make it. "
Cliff Strutz

"Fork-tender beef is in the middle; on the left is kraut, on the right, slices of dumpling."
Michael Stern